A lot of podium interviews have some variation of " I was just hitting my marks". Dungey said this ALL of the time.
In auto racing, hitting your marks really makes sense since you would identify a curb or crack in the track to determine where you need to apply brakes or start your turn in for a corner etc. With all of the variation in MX/SX I don't see how anyone uses a mark for braking, turning, lane position (this is probably why I'm slow as beans).
What does hitting your marks mean to you? What does this mean to the pros?
Staying in/on your line.
Maintaining your timing
Hitting the exact points on the track that you’ve selected
When I don't have a lot of wood to chop.
Hitting your marks could mean timing jumps properly including hitting the rear wheel on the frontside of a jump to slow you down on some jumps and hitting the downside on others for full acceleration.
It means exactly what you described for car racing. It means they put the bike exactly where they wanted it and had planned to from the start. I don’t think they say it when it’s a battle as you can’t choose your marks all the time then. I think they say it when they’re out front and it’s like practice just cruising to a win, clicking laps and not making any mistakes. I don’t recall MC ever using this terminology though. I think RC was the first to say it.
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Command of the scooter, not the other way around.
I take it to mean running consistent laps with minimal mistakes to have fast lap times strung together, but not necessarily having the fastest laps.
Basically whatever speed you need to go to maintain your position/gap over the next rider while minimizing the chance of falling or making a mistake.
Whenever guys say this, the context is almost always about managing the race from or near the front.
😂😂
I def have braking markers in moto too. Just not for every corner but for the more consistent ones with a fast/long entry I think it really helps to be more precise.
It means there's not enough sand on the track.
I've always looked at it as consistent laps, with no real mistakes, and didn't know people had different thoughts about it. Haha!
Yeah who knew right? In all of your spare time, perhaps this could be a question during interviews for the riders. It would be interesting to hear their description of hitting their marks
For me, hitting my marks means leaving the track after a good days riding about 3, getting home, unloading, having a shower/ bath then hitting the sofa with a couple of beers. All marks hit as far as I’m concerned.
Ding ding ding.....we have a winner here. ^^^^^
I want to see tracks that make "hitting your marks" a thing of the past.
Anyone that has ridden a SX knows what this is, even if its just an amateur SX track. If you haven't ridden one, most people have no appreciation about how technical SX is. MX jumps and obstacles are ridiculously forgiving in comparison to SX obstacles. You have to hit the right lines, right speed in the jump faces, downsiding your jumps to keep drive going into the next obstacle, not over jumping, not under jumping, absorbing jump faces to stay low (or scrubbing), and essentially hitting every obstacle as smooth as possible, and seat bouncing where necessary. Just all the little things to hit every obstacle smoothly because smooth is fast, fast is smooth. As you ride the track, you learn or see exactly where you need to land on a jump to carry momentum smoothly into the next obstacle. Those take off and landing spots are your "marks",.
In other words....SX has become robotic gymnastics.
I'm not discounting the skill it takes to do all these things. It's just gotten....stale.
Executing without mistakes.
Take another shot of vodka every time someone says it. That’s what it means.
We’ll, to be fair Lewis, the marks are on the wrong side of the road over in the UK……..
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I know three Marks. Do I have to hit them on the same day?
Maker my Marks....
That’s a good Mark to hit.
Lol...if you've burned enough laps then you have felt that "zone" when you did everything right. Jumps, corners, braking, acceleration...that one perfect lap.
The pros are good because they can string together those sorts of laps. Remember when you first realized you were never gonna be able to do that? That's why they created the B, C, and D classes.

Not a fucking thing. It's a stupid phrase. The track is constantly changing, As a rider I'm looking for better lines all the time. Taking peek here or there to see if another line might be shaping up.
It's the same as being in the zone to me. When I get there on my regular track, I don't even think. I just flow with it and every turn and jump is done with the precision needed to deliver optimal speed/low lap times with minimal effort. I can go 5 or 6 laps like that and sometimes not even remember it. It's the safest I feel out there. When I come off my boy will say Dad, you looked fast (it's relative) and smooth. Rare praise.
Probably like when us peasants hit a turn absolutely perfect out of no where and no idea how you did it, I assume that’s hitting your marks
You described it perfectly to me. Do you have a bike recall as always being “there” more than the others?
mine was my last rmz and it was like I could do no wrong. I was less of a headcase then too probably lol
Mental marks, be left here, be right there, high here, low there, inside here, outside there, etc. etc. hole develops move over a little for a new “mark” and continue on.
come to think of it, we haven’t had a Mark on the starting line in a while eh?
Not blowing through any corners sums it up for me.
Where I intended for my bike to go, my bike went!
Exery corner has a braking point, turn-in, apex, and exit. Every obstacle has some combination of set-up, approach, line of attack, departure, and exit. Being in the right gear is a part of this too.
Hitting your marks, even if they change, allows maximum velocity. And your best times.
Hitting your marks makes you feel good too.
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